


Practical Magic

by Danekez



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Freeform, M/M, Marauders' Era, Multi, anyway here's magic written by an actual wiccan witch and not a coward, here we are, its a good name and it suites the point im trying to make, might be slice of life its hard to know at this point, pagan au, yes I'm aware of the book named practical magic and no this isnt a crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 18:46:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15273945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danekez/pseuds/Danekez
Summary: There's a lot more to magic than simply waving your wand...





	1. Prelude

For the last Thirteen years or so, Hope had learned something new every single day. After all, she had spent that time living a double-life of sorts. It wasn't really much of a fuss, though at times Hope had found herself inconvenienced with planning and keeping in touch with the right people at the right time. However, she worked well in her job with a local Agency, Livewell & Holland Financial Insurance, which provided her with both handsome pay and wonderful excuses to keep her hands tied when friends or family came knocking at her door unexpectedly and at the worst of times.  
Her parents would visit every Sunday afternoon after Church, and not often otherwise. While Hope and her father wrote to each other regularly, the drive from Holyhead to Cardiff was simply too stressful to make more than once a week most of the time. There were always exceptions to this unspoken rule and every once in a blue moon a knock would sound while Holly and her husband, Lyall, had guests.

"Oh, just a minute." She would say in undertones. She and Lyall shared most of their friends and she had met all of Lyalls family, however, their families did not mix well by the laws that ruled his country... or was it a society within her country... She could never understand.

"I'll get the door. Darling, could you keep our guests quiet?" Holly spoke fervently as she stood. She hardly heard her husbands response of "Well, Sure!" as she whisked towards the front step. It was at times like these that Hope was grateful that Lyall's friends didn't drive automobiles or otherwise leave any trace of their presence outside her home.

"Surprise!" Her father's boisterous laugh would sound as Hope opened her front door. They would embrace and kiss each other's cheeks, but Hope wouldn't step aside or invite him in. Her company was very different than the people she'd grown up with and the cultural difference was startling to say the least. No, it would be best to keep things separate.

"Your mother had to get her eyeglasses repaired and I suggested the repairman here in Cardiff. His shop is simply delightful and you know I'm always looking for an excuse to see my shining girl." Hope's father spoke to her in Cymraeg. She had come to use English with her husband and his friends, but she slipped easily into her mother-tongue whenever her family was around.

"The drive is whats killing her eyesight, I swear. You should let us come and visit you more." Hope insisted, as she always did when her parents showed up.

"That boy of yours has enough on his plate without making that long drive. I'll survive, but his illness is nothing to cough at. No, until he's better we will come to you. Spare him the drive, we can weather it." Again, her fathers' age-old response. "Why don't you let me come in for some tea, I'll catch my death out here in the wind. Or are you-" He trailed off and gave Hope an inquisitive look.

"Up to my ears in work, I had to take home. Oh, I'm so sorry dad. Here, give me half an hour to tie up my work and then I'll meet you in town at the cafe for lunch before you grab mum for home. It's so stuffy in here, I'll be glad for an outing."

"Alright, Hope." He would say, because Hope's father was under the impression that she couldn't work with guests in the house. It was a lie that pained her to say every time, but she saw no grief on her father face as he hugged her again and turned for his automobile once more. It was then Hope's duty to say goodbye to Lyall and his mates, finish her tea, and make sure that her son was comfortable before she could follow her father to their favorite Cafe, The Mariner's Lounge.  
The secrecy surrounding Lyall's friends was something Hope had never counted on when she had, as a child, imagined married life. Most people might assume the secrecy came from dangerous fraternization, however, Lyall's friends were some of the most trustworthy and honorable people she'd ever come to know. Each of them worked a legitimate job, had married to good wives, and worked in noteworthy positions within the government. By all accounts, Hope wished she could brag to her parents about the wonderful life that had spirited her away. The one circumstance that held her lips shut was this certain document that governed Lyall and all of his people; The Statute of Secrecy.

Lyall worked for a government, but it was no government that any of her friends or family would know of. In fact, if she came out and said exactly where Lyall worked in truth it might inspire her friends or family to call lunacy. In Hope's opinion, that was a fair and valid judgment. If she herself had not witnessed Lyall at work, Hope could not truthfully say she'd have believed her husband if he confessed everything to her.

Hope's husband, Lyall, was a Wizard. Normal people like her (Or, Muggles, as he called her family and herself) were not to know about the existence of the Wizards or Witches that lived among them. In the spirit of that, Lyall had grown up completely separately from Hope. He'd gone to a different marketplace, he'd been to a different school, and he worked for a different government. His whole world was neatly wrapped and packaged somewhere within her own, and she'd failed to sense it at all until the day Lyall had saved her from a creature in the woods near her childhood home.

Each year had brought her newer and richer knowledge of the Wizarding world, always from a slightly outside perspective. Now, with a child at eleven years of age, Hope was prepared to see him off in the largest leap-of-faith she'd ever taken.


	2. First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Remus Makes a Friend.

"Remus John Lupin, you look me in the eyes young man." The calm voice of Remus's mother carried just enough to make him look up from studying his sneakers. Her warm brown eyes cleansed his anxiety for just the moment, then she planted a kiss on his forehead. Many other young boys might have been embarrassed at being kissed by their mother in a frothing crowd as what seemed like hundreds of children boarded a mysterious train. Remus, on the other hand, cherished that moment for what it was.

"You are going to have a wonderful time. I'll be an owl away when you need me, and only a heartbeat away when you miss me. " She broke her gaze just a moment to exchange looks with his father, then she smiled at Remus once more. "I'll need you to do me a favor."

"Anything, mum." Remus tried to sound brave, but his voice felt small in his throat.

"I want you to write everything down for me. Your father has told me so much about Hogwarts, but I'll never see it. Can you tell me all about it? You can even draw pictures if you like, you're so talented." Her firm grip on his shoulders reassured him, then his father knelt beside her.

"Here, sport." He said. Remus's father held out a small, thin package wrapped in gold paper. "Why don't you open that on the train ride?"

Remus nodded as he took the package. He felt a pang in his chest when the train blew its whistle. By now the crowd was thinning and Remus didn't feel so cramped with his parents. He leaned forward and wordlessly embraced them both, absorbing as much of their love as he could before he left for his new winter home. Soon, Remus was being ushered onto the train by his father and holding back tears. They hugged and kissed once more, then Remus morosely stepped onto the train. He was simply not good at saying goodbye.

Upon entering the train he realized that the lavish inside of the train was rather handsome. The first few steps he took on the carpeted floor distracted him from his sadness. The wooden detailing on the walls and intricate carvings all carried a certain amount of history that simply felt like he was stepping into another world, one completely separate from the modern house his mother and father had bought in his hometown of Cardiff. Remus was unused to seeing purely Wizarding spaces, as his home was mostly decorated by his muggle mother.

With his luggage in tow, Remus set off to find an empty compartment. There were children stepping past him who carried nothing but whizzing toys in their hands, obviously having already set their luggage away. Others, like a squat boy just down the train car, were also dragging luggage behind them and peering into windows as they passed.

Remus had just passed a compartment with a boy and a girl in deep conversation when the train jolted beneath his feet. There was another blow of the whistle and Remus felt the train begin to move. Horrified at the prospect of not waving goodbye to his mother and father, Remus quickly hauled himself into the compartment and threw the window open.

"Mum!" He called, looking around for her blonde hair and green peacoat, or his father's maroon trilby, "Dad!"

But then, all sorts of kids were doing the exact same thing he was; leaning their bodies as far out the windows of the train as they could. He searched the crowd again, calling and waving to one another. Finally, he spotted them, his parents made their way through the crowd until they could make out each other's faces.

"-miss you-" was all he could hear from them over the roar of the parents and children waving goodbye. Remus cupped his hands around his mouth and called, "I'll write to you, I promise!" Which earned him a teary, bright smile from his mother as she waved.

They stayed like that, waving and calling love for each other until the train picked up speed and eventually left the station behind. Only when it was far out of sight did Remus turn his head forward against the deafening wind to see the countryside ahead. The rolling hills were spotted with lochs and sparse woods. They had sped out of the city and into fields Remus had never been to before, though he was reminded of the trip to Holyhead, where his grandparents had lived.

A tug at his jeans startled Remus and he ducked back into the compartment. It seemed as though the compartment that he'd intruded upon had filled up, and somebody had already shoved his luggage into the space above their seats. The squat boy from the corridor had also found his way into the compartment, and Remus barely saw him snatch his small hand from the hem of Remus's jeans. The girl and the boy were looking stern with him, so Remus closed the window and silently sat down.

"I swear, you were one bump or tussle away from falling out of the window." Stated the girl. She had shoulder-length red hair and bright green eyes that could shock anyone. This girl would not be easily lost in a crowd, that was for sure.

"Oh, Um, Sorry." He stammered. It was now dawning on him that his behavior was rather childish and, perhaps, not a very good first impression. Gradually, he became very grateful that the wind had dried his eyes after his tearful goodbye.

"Don't apologize, just don't be stupid. That's what my older sister always says, anyway." The girl scoffed. She seemed to be in a good mood, becoming less concerned with Remus's behavior every second. The boy beside her, however, was still throwing nasty looks at him.

"That's smart of her. Is she a Slytherin?" piped up the squat boy. He seemed about just as nervous as Remus was, which offered a sense of unity that he was grateful for.

"No." The girl said matter-of-factly. "She's not-"  
"-Important." interrupted the boy beside her. "She's not important, at least not to you." The girl made a face trapped somewhere between a smile and a grimace, but she didn't challenge her friend.

"What about you?" She piped up, looking cheerfully at the squat boy. "Do you have any family at Hogwarts?"

"Oh- no, it's just me." He said in a wheezing voice. He smiled awkwardly and it struck Remus that this boy might never have spoken to a girl before in his life.

"I'm the same." He chimed in, feeling the need to free his anxious companion of at least some of the spotlight. After all, suffering was done better in two's. "No siblings, so all I've got to know about Hogwarts is what my dad told me."

"Yeah, my parents told me loads of stuff." chimed the squat boy. He fiddled with his thumbs as he talked, "Luckily I live right next door to Gina Hornsby and her whole family. You know she's got two older sisters and three brothers? Not all of them are in Hogwarts yet, but enough of them are. They told me I'm bound to be in Hufflepuff, no other place for me."

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad. I bet I'm right there with you." Remus laughed a little and finally began to relax.

"The houses fascinate me!" gushed the redheaded girl. "I'm not sure I'm too fussy about where I'm sorted, I'm just excited for the dorms and the competition. I've heard about the End of Year celebration and it sounds like it'll be the most exciting to win the House Cup."

"I've never heard anything more Slytherin in my life." said the boy beside her. He was reclined in his seat and had propped his elbow on a rest. Something about his smile off-put Remus, but he couldn't immediately tell why. "Trust me, you and I will be sitting together at the best table in Hogwarts."

Just then each of them jumped as their door slid open with a crash. Remus looked up to see two eager-eyed, dark-haired boys lean in and look around. The one in the front was rather short and sported wild, curly hair that stuck up in all different directions. He looked to be about Remus's age, just like the rest of the people in his cart. The wily-haired boys' companion stood back a bit, which obscured him. He could have been older, but Remus couldn't tell. He had pitch black hair that fell in waves down to his jaw and piercing dark eyes that casually spanned the room, lingering for just a moment on Remus.

"James Potter." Stated the boy with thick curls. "So what's going on in here?" He shouldered his way into the cramped compartment alongside his taller friend and they let the door slide shut behind them. The compartment could barely fit all six of them, so Remus and his companion scooted closer towards the window. However, the boy and the girl across from them didn't budge.

"Remus Lupin" Remus decided to break the silence himself and offered a hand that James took immediately. "Pleasure."

"The pleasure's all mine, and this is my mate Sirius Black. You might've heard of him, he's famous and all that." James spoke remarkably fast when addressing his friend, who elbowed him in the ribs with a chuckle.

"Famous." Sneered the boy sitting across from Remus, though his voice was almost undetectable.

"How are things, Snape?" asked Sirius casually, though it was impossible not to feel the tension in the room. Remus easily guessed that these two boys knew each other."Seems you're getting along. I've never seen so many people willfully share the same room with you. Is nobody running for cover yet?"

The boy who Remus now knew as 'Snape' very suddenly no longer seemed aloof and collected, but rather he was red-faced and simmering at Sirius's comment. The change was like a light-switch.

"Who's you're Girlfriend?" Asked James jovially. "She's pretty, has she got a name?"

Snape opened his mouth in protest, or perhaps he was silenced with embarrassment, but no noise came out. Instead, the girl put a hand on his shoulder and spoke up.

"Severus, don't bother with them, they aren't worth our time." She said coldly, then turned her nose towards the window pointedly.

"Sorry, did I say girlfriend? I think I meant mother. What's your name?" Asked James again with a grin on his face and his hands casually slid into his pockets.

"Lily Evans." She said tartly, "But don't get used to saying it, I can smell a bully miles away and I won't put up with you."

"Evans." Said James in a wistful voice, "You know I'm not familiar with your family. Odd, considering your company."

"Sod off." Hissed Lily, and she crossed her arms in finality. This made James raise his brows and laugh.

"My, my, you've got a bit of a mouth, haven't you?" Jingled James in a sing-song voice, "Alright, calm your hippogriffs. I guess it's back to the grind, for us. It's nice meeting you, Evans." and then he shouldered past his friend to slide the compartment door open and make his exit. Sirius waited for James to be fully out of the compartment before he followed, his gaze once more lingering on Remus.

When they were gone Snape finally piped up, red-faced and in a tizzy. "What was the point of all of that? Did they come in here just to harass us?"

"Boys." Hissed Lily under her breath, then she responded in full, "I bet they're out there looking for lackeys. Didn't you hear them? This is _Sirius Black_ , he's _Famous_. Like we care."

"Anyone who knows anything about Wizards knows Sirius Black is as famous as my left foot! He's just got a big name is all." But Snape looked no less insecure with his words than he sounded to Remus.

While Lupin was far from an important name, Remus had understood the importance of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Black was one of the most important names in the Wizarding World, and while that didn't make him famous, it still made him someone.

"I'm Peter." Spouted the boy beside Remus. He seemed smaller after speaking out so unexpectedly, he looked frightfully between his cabin-mates. "Peter Pettigrew. Everyone else introduced themselves, so I figured-" He trailed off, having lost either steam or confidence.

"It's nice to meet you, Peter." Said Remus, feeling as though he'd made a friend.


End file.
